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Downtown Seattle

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Staying in a hotel where it is in the heart of Downtown Seattle meant that everything is of walking distance. Restaurants were located within a short distance of a mile everywhere I went and there were enough stores for me to find places to spend our money at. Here are the places that I constantly visited and loved in downtown.

Pine Street

Pine St / 5th Ave / 6th Ave

Seattle, WA 98101

Okay, I do not know if this counts as a shopping place, but the entire street of Pine (including the area around 5th and 6th Ave) are basically a shopping center of its own except it is on a block. You have stores like Nike Town, American Apparel, Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle Outfitters, All Saints, and more all located along this street. Here, you will also find connecting malls like Westlake Center and Pacific Place, which I will discuss into details down below. I thoroughly enjoyed shopping around these stores, especially since a lot of the retailers were still providing their after Christmas discounts. I scored an amazing hoodie for about 85% off at AEO! If you are into designer items, you might have better luck shopping at Nordstrom as there are more moderate-fast fashion retailers in downtown.

Pacific Place is a huge luxurious center housing designer brands such as Michael Kors and Tiffany & Co., as well as an AMC Pacific Place 11, where Richard and I watched Disney's Frozen for the first time ever (and loved). This is the same place where we browsed through the two story Barnes & Nobles and picked up an advent calendar that was on clearance for less than $5 and munched on tiramisu cake at the Ii Fornaio. It is a great place to kill some time as it has four floors of shopping, but only if you have the wallet to do so.

Around the corner from Pacific Place is Gameworks. Now, I grew up in Southern California where we have Boomers! and Dave & Busters, so I had no idea what a Gameworks was. Intrigued by the fact that it was an arcade driven place, I now associate it as another version of Dave & Busters. Filled with food, a bar, and varying arcade games, I had a blast to the point where I came back a second time. Ticket games were a bit sketchy as some games did not give me tickets, others did not work (so I lost money here and there), and there were not a large variety of prizes to pick from when redeeming our tickets. Regardless of all of that, I still had a blast shooting hoops, watching my friend beat the Street Fighter machine, and making rounds at the Elvis coin machine.

This is an interesting center as I would not call it a mall just yet. With a huge Zara opening come Spring 2014, it will be filled with fashionistas and fashionitos alike. Stores like Daiso and Lush are located at Westlake, but other than that there are not nearly as many stores in Westlake than there are at Pacific Place. If you ever do visit Seattle, be on the look out for the huge Zara that will be opening up there soon.

Love discounted shopping? So do I. Every thrift store and Nordstrom Rack that I have ever been to in Southern California were dry of stuff worth purchasing. Things get picked over more than once and things that end up at Nordstrom Rack were not any better than things that are designed at Target. In fact, I would rather buy things at my local Target than I would at Nordstrom Rack and that is saying something. But after going to two different Nordstrom Rack stores in Seattle (one being in Southcenter), I could not believe I did not purchase something for myself. From Mink Pink to Michael Kors and Theory to Free People, these Nordstrom Rack stores really were amazing. A Mink Pink sweater retailing at over $300 gets marked down to only $25, a price you would have never thought to pay for quality cashmere. Pack light and plan to shop because Seattle is full of retail stores with great deals!

***

Side note, while my friend I were exploring downtown Seattle, we ran into the
Seattle Seahawks' Pre-Game Block Rally at the Westlake Center. Not only that, but a few days prior to that event, Richard and I were just about to leave Gameworks when we noticed a ton of policemen telling people to move aside. Little did we know that we were only ten feet away from the San Francisco 49ers. Yes, THE professional football players. What luck did we have?!

This mall is really close to the SEA-TAC International Airport, in fact it is only a few blocks from it. It is probably one of the biggest malls that I have ever gotten to visit filled with tons of retailers to shop from. Fair warning though, it is a female-driven mall therefore there are far more retailers for women than there are men, but that should not stop you from your shopping experience. Love your fast-fashion? Well, most of the retailers at Southcenter are fast-fashion driven therefore it is filled with affordable trendy clothes for you and your family.

Alderwood would be the equivalent to the Irvine Spectrum here in Southern California. It is a half indoor mall and half outdoor mall with retailers varying from Nordstrom to White House | Black Market. It is a nice mall to go to if you want to have a different shopping experience and not feel overwhelmed by the amount of stores there are. It is quite charming and full of a variety of Seattle's juice and coffee joints. Did I mention there is an Apple store here?

I ended my trip to Seattle with many visits to Bellevue Square. Well, I should rephrase that. A friend took me on a lovely tour of Bellevue, which houses amazing places like Lucky Strike, Microsoft's corporate building, The Container Store, and the well-known Din Tai Fung Restaurant. It is quite a breath taking place if you stroll around the area late at night with plenty of places to eat from. My recommendation? Din Tai Fung. You will taste the difference between a reheated dim sum to one that is made right in front of you.

*Disclaimer: I was not sponsored to write this post. None of the businesses or brands above have asked me to write about these places. I just wanted to share my experiences with everyone.*

I am a little late in posting this because I just wrapped up my finals for the semester, but that does not mean that I have forgotten about ...

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